Grateful to Serve

Judy Mobley has been a board member at Hospice & Community Care for a little more than a year. When asked what her favorite part of being a board member was, Judy shared, “I like being able to support an agency that does so much good for so many people across the area. It reaches out to everybody and provides services that are just not duplicated anywhere else.”
“My mother-in-law had a medical emergency, and she was in the ER on a ventilator in an emergency situation. And when the family all got to town, we decided, with the doctor’s advice, to put her in hospice. So we brought her to Hospice & Community Care. The expectation was that she would only live a few days, but instead, she lived for two months. Your organization gave her such good care and such reassurance to us,” shared Judy. “For two months, she stayed at the Wayne T. Patrick Hospice House, and we saw the care you provided. We would not have been able to take care of her on our own. She had been in two hospitals, two living facilities, and then hospice in a year’s time. We didn’t want to move her anymore, and you were there for us.”
“I was so moved, I told Jane Armstrong that if there was ever an opening on the Board that I want to serve to give back because of what Hospice did for her.”
“Being on the board has widened my circle of friends and acquaintances,” said Judy. “I am meeting people from the board that I had never met before because our circles never crossed. I like that being here on the Hospice & Community Care campus for meetings and I just dropped off a load of donations for the Resale Shop. I like the feel of this place, both the administration side and the care side. The durable medical equipment program is just wonderful, and I share news of the program on my Facebook page whenever possible.”
Last year Judy helped with the Comfort Campaign, co-chairing the effort with Ann Williamson. “I am not one to ask people for money, but this is such a good cause I could not do otherwise. And the Pump House event that Ell did for us was such a classy event, that I had two of the people that I asked to come and donate, increased what they gave because of that event. It made me feel so good that they had it in their hearts to give, and then come to the event and say ‘Oh, that was not enough, I have to give more because of the stories I heard that night.’ That was incredible.”
One of the ways we need to grow is to widen our invitation list, to get more people on board with us to understand what our mission is, what our work is, and to give to the organization. There are a lot of people out there who would give, but they haven’t been asked yet. It is important to use our board, our people power, to reach out to the community. To get people to the event.
According to Judy, being a board member is another aspect of volunteering, and there are so many ways that people can get involved here at Hospice & Community Care by volunteering. “Volunteering, there are so many different jobs that our volunteers do. You don’t have to sit with a patient if you are not comfortable doing that, you can knit prayer shawls, no matter what your skill there is something you can contribute here.  You can volunteer with the durable medical equipment program, volunteer to help patients, or even help with administrative tasks. Any time that you have available results in help for the organization.”
“Any contribution helps the organization. Even if those who have had a good experience can give their story,” explained Judy. “They can talk about their experience; that is a very important gift. People give big gifts, small gifts, and gifts of their time, and they can give their verbal support about everything that Hospice does. I have heard more people talk lately about they watched a TV ad, or they saw a billboard advertising another hospice, and aren’t they all alike? And I tell them no, we are top of the line, and I know that. The more people see how much we do and share what we do, the better our ability to meet the needs of those throughout our communities.”
“And it is such a beautiful and peaceful campus, with the chapel in the gardens, and the Veteran Garden, it is beautiful. It is not institutional here. If you have someone in the hospital then you know the antiseptic smell and look, you don’t have that here. I am grateful to be here, and I am grateful to serve on the board and to give back because of what Hospice & Community Care did for my family.”